Bishop vows to pursue Gillard on union fund

Opposition deputy leader
Julie Bishop
has claimed it is “inconceivable" Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
did not know that $67,000 used to buy a Melbourne property in 1993 came from an Australian Workers’ Union slush fund she helped set up.

Ms Bishop, managing partner at Clayton Utz in Perth from 1994 to 1998, also questioned why Ms Gillard did not report this to authorities or to other partners at Slater & Gordon.

Internal records from Slater & Gordon published in the Weekend AFR have cast doubt on whether Ms Gillard ever saw the cheque.

The Coalition plans to target Ms
Gillard
about her knowledge of the cheque that was used in 1993 to buy a Melbourne property. The money for the purchase came from the fund associated with Ms Gillard’s former boyfriend, union official Bruce Wilson.

“When asked about the slush fund [Ms Gillard] says there were investigations under way but it’s now evident there were not inquiries and investigations into the Western Australian incorporated slush fund – there were inquiries and investigations into the Melbourne slush fund where there were questions as to whether or not renovations to her house were paid out of the Melbourne slush fund," Ms Bishop said from Papua New Guinea on Sunday. Ms Gillard has denied that the renovations to her house were paid for out of the Melbourne fund.

Ms Gillard had avoided “saying when she knew of the fraudulent use of the slush fund she helped establish in Western Australia and why she didn’t report that fraudulent use to her partners, the client the AWU or the appropriate authorities," Ms Bishop said.

Ms Gillard was a partner at Slater & Gordon, which has released mortgage and conveyancing documents to former union official Ralph Blewitt, who registered the Australian Workers Union’s Workplace Reform Association. The conveyancing file shows that the work was undertaken by another employee in the firm’s commercial division, Olive Bros­nahan, while Ms Gillard worked in the industrial wing.

A spokesman for Ms Gillard last night referred to extensive previous comments made by her on the matter.

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Ms Bishop said the Coalition would press on this and related matters when Parliament resumes on November 26.

“These are legitimate questions that I am asking the Prime Minister about her involvement in a union slush fund that allegedly involved a serious fraud perpetrated by her then boyfriend," Ms Bishop said. “This use of slush funds and misuse of union money goes to the heart of the culture of the union movement and the union movement is at the heart of Julia Gillard’s government."

The Melbourne property was bought for $230,000. Mr Wilson used power of attorney to buy it on behalf of Mr Blewitt. The law firm’s file shows that a deposit of $23,000 was paid, and the firm acted as the intermediary for a $150,000 mortgage.

Ms Bishop has already sought to table in Parliament a copy of a cheque for $67,722.30 from the Workplace Reform Association that was used to settle the purchase of the property.

The cheque is made out to “Slater & Gordon Trust Acc" and is drawn on a branch of the Commonwealth Bank in James Street, Northbridge, in Perth.

However, an internal Slater & Gordon account ledger shows that the same amount of money was paid by Mr Blewitt as a “DDep", or direct deposit, meaning the law firm might not have sighted the cheque.

“I will continue to ask questions, I don’t think she can continue to stonewall in relation to her involvement in union slush funds," Ms Bishop said. “I’m challenging her most recent versions with the documents that have come to light."